Highlights: Lynn, Gambhir power KKR to 10-wicket win

8 Apr 2017

The third match of the ongoing Indian Premier League season saw the Kolkata Knight Riders cruise past the Gujarat Lions at Rajkot on Friday. Proceedings got underway at Rajkot with KKR skipper Gambhir calling the toss right and opting to field first. The Lions surprised everyone with their team selection as they opted to play with four specialist overseas batsmen in Brendon McCullum, Jason Roy, Dwayne Smith and Aaron Finch. Ravindra Jadeja and Dwayne Bravo missed out due to injury and not choosing to play James Faulkner in their opening game cost Gujarat dearly.

Gujarat lost Roy early after a positive start from the English batsman but Suresh Raina and McCullum scored freely. McCullum was dismissed by Kuldeep Yadav and Finch followed suit quickly. A fantastic partnership between skipper Raina and wicket-keeper Dinesh Karthik ensured that the Lions posted 183 runs on the board. Kolkata’s chase was clinical as the move to promote Chris Lynn to open the batting with Gambhir worked wonders. The big-hitting Australian went after the below par Gujarat bowling attack and smashed the ball to all parts of the ground, scoring an unbeaten 93 off 41. Gautam Gambhir placed the ball between the gaps really well and brought up yet another half IPL century. The duo chased down the target of 184 in just 14.5 overs to close the game and brought up KKR’s first points on the board.